Practicing for the Paparazzi

Since we normally have such a hard time getting a decent picture of Sabrina, we decided to have some smile lessons so she would look a little more natural and less grimace-y in photos.  I think she did a pretty good job. She asked if she could take her baby doll, Twinkle Toes, outside, so I fashioned a baby carrier for her out of an old scarf.  Sabrina thought it was pretty cool.  Of course, Clark then came up and gave an awesome smile!  He is normally very good for the camera, we haven't reached the crazy toddler stage yet.   And I just had to share a photo of this dress I found on sale at Old Navy for Sabrina.  I just love the design and color, especially with her fair skin and golden hair.

Off to Pre-School

 Sabrina started preschool again!  She goes two days a week to a little church run preschool near our soon-to-be home.   The days are a little longer than last year, which is actually good preparation for Kindergarten next year.  She has rest time every day and has a cute little nap mat she lays on.

 Clark really misses his sister when she's at school and is so excited when I wake him up from his nap to go pick up his sister.  It's been fun having some one-on-one time with Clark, but I do miss Sabrina's chatter and excitement while she is away.

Herb Garden

So even though we moved to Dallas in the summer, I was eager to try to start growing something right away. We planted 8 different herbs in this planter. I was letting them grow in the back patio area, where they get only a few hours of sun and no afternoon sun, for a few weeks. I knew that I should wait a little longer for most of them, but the basil was chomping at the bit, so I moved them to the front yard. The thyme and dill died almost right away, but the basil grew and grew. A couple weeks after the picture above, we had several basil plants that were probably 9 or 10 inches tall. So we used them to make some homemade pesto!

 All the basil for this came from our little garden! 

 The kids sure enjoyed eating it. 

Now that it is cooling down the sage and parsley are really starting to grow, and the basil is already regrowing really fast. Hooray for herb gardens. We can't wait to have a great big garden once we buy our house!

Kids Aquarium and More

 On my first Friday off of work (thank you flex schedule), we went down to the kids aquarium in Dallas, and it was really cool. We got to pet stingrays and I even fed a couple. The kids were too scared to feed them, and it probably is because I squealed like a little girl when I fed the first one. The fish was falling out of my hand so I squeezed on so as not to lose it. Since I was squeezing it, though, the stingray came up and started sucking on my finger to get at it, which was quite a surprising sensation. Fortunately, my sweet wife didn't start recording the video until the worst of my shrieking was over.  

We went downtown yesterday so the family could see my office, but I apparently don't have weekend access to the office. So we just toured downtown a little bit. We went to fountain place, which was very nice, but none of the fountains were running. Oh well, we still had fun. 

Our current home seems to be haunted by some little ghost that likes to attach itself to the back of Yogurl's legs. I have a feeling that it will follow us when we move to our new home soon.